A no-till planter creates a narrow band of tillage, and plants seed within the narrow band of tillage in a single pass. No-till planting has been employed over rugged, irregular terrain, such as hilly fields and highway rights of way. Some benefits of no-till planting include minimal soil disturbance, weed control, reduced soil erosion, greater moisture control, improved soil quality, and a reduction of fuel costs.
Some known no till planters, also referred to as seed drill planters, may include a wheel mounted frame and one or two ranks of planter assemblies. Such planters may be pulled behind a tractor. Examples of such planters are described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,030,428 and 4,977,841, which are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.
It is desirable to design no-till planters to operate over rough terrain. During the planting operation, for example, the planter is likely subjected to side-to-side forces, and is further subjected to localized forces on individual planter assemblies as the planter negotiates over high and low ground. If the no-till planter operates on uneven ground, the ground underneath an individual planter assembly may be substantially lower than the ground underneath the other planter assemblies. In such circumstances, the planter may not provide the narrow band of tillage in which the seed is planted. The uneven ground may include local high spots, such as a rock, where the ground underneath an individual planter assembly is substantially higher than the ground underneath the other planter assemblies. In such circumstances, it is possible for the entire down force of the planter to be placed on a single planter moving over the rock or other high point. This may damage the frame, the planter assembly, or the mounting structure connecting the planter assembly to the frame. It is desired to improve the planter to operate on such uneven ground. Furthermore, the no-till planter should be designed to avoid damaging forces during transport or prolonged storage.
Planting depth should be able to be accurately controlled according to soil condition, moisture content and seed type. Thus, for example, the planting depth for conventional planting in prepared seedbeds and the planting depth for no-till planting should be the same. No-till planters have no-till disks that are used to cut through the previous plant residue. Conventionally, these no-till disks are manually removed from the planter before the planter may be used to plant seed in prepared seedbeds.